Assessing alternative management strategies for blacklip abalone

Abstract

Unsustainability of abalone harvesting has become a worldwide trend. Australian abalone fisheries have thus far defied this seemingly inevitable path towards collapse, remaining generally sustainable until recently. Today unfavourable market and export conditions, disease, climate change, ecological shifts, and reduced catch quotas challenge the capacity of Australian abalone fisheries to remain sustainable into the future. Profits are down and the resilience of these fisheries is under threat. The two major stakeholders of the Australian abalone fishing industry are the commercial license owners and the government. The licence owner's goal is to maximise their annual catch whilst the main responsibility of government is to ensure the continued health of the fishery. In the early decades of the fishery both goals were relatively easily satisfied, however recent times have seen increased conflict between the two parties. Government is obliged to strongly consider the livelihoods of the licence owners whenever it applies annual changes to commercial harvesting strategies. However, it is faced with increasingly difficult decisions as abalone populations spiral into decline. Management of abalone fisheries has proved to be an onerous task over many decades. Abalone live near the shoreline and can be found down to 30 metres depth. Their populations from one reef to the next are as unpredictable as the rocky reefs they inhabit. Whilst many abalone are visible on the outer surface of a complex boulder system, it is difficult to accurately predict how many are hidden in inaccessible cracks and crevices.